Richie Incognito said he is not a racist and that his relationship with Jonathan Martin was close. / Robert Mayer, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

Richie Incognito came out of exile for a damage-control interview with Fox Sports' Jay Glazer on Sunday that was supposed to clear the air.

It did not move the needle with me.

Frankly, it fueled more questions about the glaring holes in the production.

Incognito, the suspended Miami Dolphins guard and face of the alleged workplace harassment that prompted second-year tackle Jonathan Martin to bolt from the team and seek counseling, was rather pathetic as he tried to explain himself amid the "friendly fire" interview with Glazer, his pal who trains him in MMA tactics

Hopefully, America is not so gullible that it won't see through this.

If you're going to come clean in clearing your name and repairing your image, what's to hide?

We heard nothing, though, about the role of the Dolphins coaches and management in the whole drama.

In fact, we never saw Incognito's response to the question about that.

It was edited out.

If coaches or other staff had no knowledge of the issues that Incognito had a hand in that led to Martin's decision to leave -- the Sun-Sentinel reported last week, citing unnamed sources, that Incognito was instructed to "toughen up" Martin -- this was the chance to clear it up.

Instead, by not addressing it, it makes you wonder what the team's role really was.

Nor was there any mention of the incident that occurred at a Dolphins charity event last year -- Incognito reportedly had inappropriate contact with a female volunteer.

That's the case coach Joe Philbin said the team handled quickly.

Then the organization that cut Chad Ochocinco, following domestic assault charges, allowed Incognito to become a member of the team's leadership council.

Does that excuse or diminish the alleged harassment? Or does it indicate that Martin is an emotionally troubled man who awkwardly tried to navigate the NFL culture and perhaps thought he could somehow fit in?

It was also revealed that Martin sent a message threatening to kill Incognito's whole (expletive) family.

Whoa. Help us, Dr. Freud.

Clearly there are even more questions about Martin.

Kill the family? Is that a response of someone trying to fit into the vulgar culture that he has found himself immersed in? Is it some pyschological byproduct of bullying?

Or was he trying to strike back in some form?

For all of the people who contend that Martin didn't stand up to the bullying -- one report said that general manager Jeff Ireland told Martin's agent that the player should have fought back -- you wonder what they would have thought had the player reacted with the type of gun violence that has sadly stamped too many tragedies in our society.

Had Martin, chastised as too soft, reacted with violence, then what?

What gives Incognito -- who confirmed that he left the racially-charged voicemail message a few months ago -- the right to try to mess with someone's mind?

He tried to rationalize his use of the racial slur as indicative of how he communicated with Martin. Some friend, he is.

Forget the baloney about locker room culture as allowing such slurs to go unchecked. As one Dolphins player after another defended Incognito last week, I was appalled that the African-American players did not voice strong disapproval.

Yet white players, Ryan Tannehill and others, should have denounced the use of the language, too. There's something to be said about a culture of respect.

That Incognito can declare on national TV he's not a racist means nothing to me.

As Maya Angelou put it: People will show you who they are with their actions.

Ultimately, Martin reached a point where he snapped.

That he fled after being the subject of a seemingly harmless cafeteria prank, one that he pulled on other teammates, strikes me as a case of a dam break.

Maybe the pressure of repeated incidents finally gave way.

That, and so much more, is left for Martin to explain.

You're up, Jonathan Martin. But remember, it's not about the theater of a heavily edited interview. There's an NFL investigation now.